Fluid control for tanks.



A. G. HURDMAN. FLUID CONTROL FOR TANKS.

nruonxou FILED Mum 1910. nsunwnn'rnn. 9, 1912.

1,068,773. Pa ented July 29, 1913.

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APPLICATION rum) we. 15, 1010. nnnnwnn 1 mm, 1912. 1,068,773.

w. 0. a m 2 w U V mm s m 1/, m m P. m M A M" a mm w, \E n Witnesses @i 5 W// w/% city and county of Denver and STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mnte. 11mm, or Damn, coLomo, Assmnon or one-rm 'ro mm s. nan, or mama, commo.

" FLUID CONTROL FOB TANKS.

Specification a: 1mm 1mm. Application filed August 15, 1910, Serial Io. 577,848. Renewed February 9, 1812. Serial Io. 676,096;

Patented July 29, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALLAN G. HURDMAN, asubject of Great Britain, residin in the tate of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid Controls for Tanks; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of'the invent-ion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accom anying drawings, and to the letters and gures of reference marked thereon. which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in fluid controls for tanks.

The invention while it may be employed *in other relations, is more especially adapted for se in connection with the gas'olenc ten of automobiles. By virtue of my imroved construction, it becomes practicable or the owner of the machine to lock the valve controlling the escape of gasolene from the tank to the carburetor, so that it becomes ractically impossible for a thief to successfully steal the machine, since he will be unable to supply the same with the. necessary explosive mixture for operating the engine, as he cannot supply the carburetor with gasolene from the tank. In order to render it practically impossible for an evilly disposed person to open the valve of the gasolene tank. I prefer to employ a combr nation lock for locking the valve stem in he closed position, the said lock being lo- 1ted inside the tank. but having an ext riorl v located knob for manipulating purp ses. Having briefly outlined my improved const 'uction, I will proced to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompa iying drmving in which is illustrated an em odimentthereof.

In this drawing: Figuri- 1 is a vertical sectioi taken through a gasolcne tank equ pped with my improvement. the tank being shown underneath a eat of the tllll'OlllOlIlh. Fig. 2 is a fragmcntanv detail view howing the tank in section where the valve and tank cscapc opening are located. the parts being sh'own on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a fragnientarv vertical section tnhcn through the tank oil the line a; Fig. t. Fig. 4 is a fra entary elevation of the tank looking in e direction of arrow 4. Fig. 1. Fig. 3

is'a sectional detail view of the valve mecli anism', the parts being shown on a still larger scale. Fig. 6 is a section taken through the tank illustrating a modified form of construction.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 desi ate a gas'oleiie tank surrounded by a casing 6, forming a. support for the seat 7 of an automobile or horseless vehicle. This tank is provided with an escape opening 8 formed in a reinforced valve seat 9 and extending downwardly through a coupling 10 to a pipe 12 lea-din to carburetor of the machine (not S10WI1.) The valve seat 9 is adapted to engaged by a cone-shaped valve 13, which is teiescopically connected with a valve rod 14 having a reduced lower extremity 15 which enters a hollow portion 16 extending above the valve proper. Between the reduced part 15 of the valve stem and the bottom of the hollow portion of the valve, is interposed a coil spring 17, which is normally under tension, to insure the seating of the valve. for reasons hereinafter explained. The valve rod is connected with the hollow member of the valve by a pin 18 passing through a slot 19formed in the sleeve on opposite sides thereof, to allow the sleeve or hollow portion of the valve a limited degree of longitudinal movement on the valve rod, or with respect thereto. Above the valve seat 9. which as illustrated in the drawing is inclined at an angle of about forty-five degrees. is located a washer 20 which is engaged by the lower extremity of a coil spring 21, whose opposite extremity engages a stop 29 adjustably mounted on the valve rod by a set bolt This valve rod, 95

above the stop 22. is provided with a knob or button 24, which when the valve is closed, occupies a position in engagement with the protruding extremity of a latch 2 forming a part of a lock .26 having-a casing 27. the 100 hot being control ed by combination mechanism 28 operated by the rotation of a spintllt 29. whose outer extremity is equipped with an exposed manipulatin knob 30. The

spindle after leaving the confiiinatioii mech 105 unis-in '28. passes through a stalling box 31 located within a recess or cavity 32 formed in the casing. thus surrounding the gasolene tank as heretofore explained.

hen the val e is closed and the button no applied to an opening formed in the wall of the casing, the latter being recessed as shown at 35 for the purpose. The outer extremity of the valve rod is exposed and provided with a head 36 for convenience of manipu-.

lati'on. When the valve is closed the head of the valve rod is partly located within a socket 37 formed in one wall of the casing 6, the said socket being lined with an angle plate 38. In this form of construction, when it is considered advisable to Close the valve, it is only necessary for the person in charge of the machine to push the head 36 inwardly from the dotted line position in Fig. 3 to the full line position in the same figure. This will cause the button 24 of the valve rod to engage the protruding extrcm ity of the latch 25, which action will force the latch inwardly until the button passes the same, after which the latch will spring out into locking engagement with the button 24. Now as this latch can only be withdrawn by manipulating the lock combination, it being assumed that the combination is thrown ofl' at the time the valve is closed. it will be impossible for an evilly disposed person to open the valve, since he does not know the combination, hence he cannot steal the machine for obvious reasons.

It will be understood that in closing the valve by shoving the outer extremity of the valve rod into the socket 37, it may sometimes happen that the button 24 will be moved past the latch 25 01' the lock, in which event it is evident that as soon as the pres sure ceases to act upon. the'v'al've rod, the spring 21 Will move the rod upwardly until the button is brought into engagement with the protruding extremity of the latch. If

. this upward movement resulted in imparting a corresponding movement to the valve 13. the valve would of course be open, allowing gasolene to pass immediately to the carbureter. In order to avoid the possibility of this result, I employ the spring-i517 interposed between the valve and the valve rod the two parts being capable of a limited degree of independent movement. Now if it be assumed that when the valve 15 thrust against its seat, the button 24 will move m wardly past the protruding extremity oft-he latch 25 so that there is a space between these two elements, the spring 21 may act on the stop 22 to actuate the rod sufliciently to bring the button into engagement with the latch, without unseating the valve, since the tension of the spring 17 will be sufficient to hold the valve in the seated position, the tension of the spring being such that it will not be exhausted after the valve rod has ceased to move upwardly for the aforesaid purpose.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. (3, a portion 39 of the valve rod is threaded to engage a threaded portion 40 of a guide sleeve 41 located above the valve seat 42.

In this case in order to seat the valve, the

valve rod must be turned in order to thread it into the guide sleeve, and by the time the valve is seated, the button 2 of the rod will be in retaining engagement with the bolt 25 of the lock, the parts being arranged to produce this result. Then if it be assumed that the combination of the lock is thrown off. it is evident that the valve cannot be opened except by manipulating the combination of the lock and withdrawing the bolt 25 into the casing of the lock and out of the path of the button 24;. Hence in order to open the valve. the lock bolt must be retracted or drawn into the casing. after which the valve rod may be moved upwardly by unscrewing the rod from the guide sleeve 21.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a tank having an escape opening, of a valve rod movable in the tank to open and close the valve, the valve being detachably connected with the valve rod and the two parts having a limited degree of longitudinal movement independently of each other, a spring interposed between the valve and valve rod. :1 second spring acting on the valve rod and adapted to move it in a direction to open the valve, and a lock located within the casing. but operable from the outside thereof, the lock having a bolt adapted to act on the valve rod to hold the valve in the closed position, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a liquid-containing tank having anescape opening, a valve and valve rod connected to have a limited degree of independent movement, a spring interposed between the two elements, and a second spring connected with the rod and adapted to move it in a direction to open the valve. the first named spring. however. bein; under suilicicnt tension that it will maintain the valve in its seated position. while the second spring is acting to impart the aforesaid movement to the valve rod. substantially as described. 1

3. The combination with a liquid-containing tank having an escape orifice. a-valve for controlling the escape of liquid from the tank, a valve rod connected with the valve having a limited degree of independent movement, a spring interposed between the valve and valve rod, a second spring acting on the valve'rod to move it in the valve-open lng direction, the first spring havin sufii- OIGDt' tQIISlOII that it is not .exhauste when the independent movement of the valve rod is exhausted, and means for locking the valve rod in. position corresponding with the seated position of the valve, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a liquid-containingf tank having an escape'orifice, a valve for controlling the escape of liquid from the said orifice, a valve rod connected with the valve to have a limited degree of independentmovement, a spring inter osed between the valve and valve rod and a apted to hold the valve against its seat while'the'valve rod is moving a limited distance in the valveopening direction, the valve rod having an exposed extremity for manipulating purposes, and a lock located within the tank butoperable from the outside thereof, whereby the bolt of the lock is actuated to lock, the valve rod in a position corresponding with the seated position of the valve, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a fluid-containing tank having an escape orifice, a valve adapted to close the said orifice, a valve rod connected with the valve, the valve rod being longitudinally movable in the tank and having 1ts outer extremity exposed for manipulating purposes, and a lock having a bolt, the lock being operable from the outside of the tank to actuate the bolt, the valve rod having a stop button=adapted to be engaged by the bolt to lock the valve in the seated position, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a liquid-containing tank lravihg an escape orifice. of a 40 valve for controlling the escape of liquid through said orifice, a longitudinally-movable valve stem connected with the valve, a spring acting on the valve stem and tending q' to move it to open the valve,and means ari- -15 ranged to be brought into operation after the said spring has been compressed for. positively forcing the valve to its seat. 5

7. The combination with a liquid containing tank having an escape orifice, of a valve for controlling the escape of liquid through said orifice, a-longit-udinally movable valve stem connectedv with the, valve, a spring acting on the valve stem and tending to move 1 it to open the valve, leans arranged to be 5 5 brought into operation after the ;sa1 d spring has been'compressed for positively forcing the valve to its seat, and a lock for holding the valve stem in its valve-seated position.

8Q The combination with a fluid-contain- 'lng tank having an escape or1fice, a valve adapted to close the said orifice, a valve rod connected With the valve, the valve rod be-* ing longitudinally movable in the tank and having its outer extremity exposed for manipulating purposes, and a lock comprising a retaining member. the lock being operable from the outside of the tank to actuate the retaining member, the valve rod having a stop button adapted to be engaged bythe 7 

